Page 37 of Not You Again
But he didn’t say that out loud because, well, he’d felt a little flutter, too. Though, he was mostly sure the flutter came from someone attractive touching him.
Attractive,hot,cuteandirrational. These were all words to describe Carly.
“Anyways, we’ll see if I’m right in a few hours. It’s all in the name of ending the loop, right? And in the meantime, we can go do whatever science stuff you want.” She had the nerve to smile.
“Whatever science stuff I want?” he parroted back. “You just kissed me, and now you think we can just pivot to me?”
“Why not?” she asked.
He rubbed his temple with a knuckle in annoyance. “You don’t even know what I want to do to test my theory. Maybe what you just did compromised any results I might have today.”
“Oh,” she said through a cringe. “Did I compromise them?”
“No,” he admitted. “But you could’ve.”
Carly rolled her eyes.
“Going forward, we need to discuss these things. No more surprise... anythings.” His eyes flitted over the length of her, and he realized that while the kiss had been jarring and eye-opening for him, maybe it wasn’t for Carly, who simply stood as if nothing had happened. That could only be because the kiss was platonic.
“That’s fair.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and erased any trace of his lips.
Right, it was just a fake kiss to test a bogus theory. He needed to get himself together. He tried for sarcasm as he said, “Don’t sound too excited about my science stuff.”
“I can’t help it. Science makes me extremely excited,” she said in a flat, deadpan voice.
He could do this. He could move on from the fact that he’d just been kissed and go about the day normally. He was pursuing facts.
“We have what we need for timekeeping.” Adam lifted his wrist and gestured to the watch. “But what I want to do is record the shadow bands on a camera so we can measure the length of them. My theory is that the shadow bands had an unexpected nuance that caused a ripple in time itself. Therefore, if I can find a way to stop the shadow bands—which occur right before the eclipse—then the loop will stop as well.”
“I mean, I have to admit that what you’ve just said is a little confusing but also sounds very legit. How do we measure these things?” Carly asked.
She was funny, which didn’t help his finding her hot thing. He cleared his throat, and the thought, as he said, “My dad has a super-fancy camera from when he went through his photography stage. I can grab that for the eclipse this evening.”
“Your dad?” she hedged. “Does that mean I get to meet the man who made this vision?”
Adam shook his head. “There will be no meeting. We will park the car, I’ll get the camera and then we’ll be off.”
“Okay.” She smiled and he noticed the hint of a dimple in one cheek. Had that always been there?
Before Adam could get his wits back, Carly turned and walked ahead of him toward the hearse. There was something about her chipper mood that made him ill at ease, but he pushed that all down, because today was the day he was going to prove himself right.
As he parked in front of his parents’ house, his dad’s voice sailed across the air, and Adam sensed that all was not going to go according to plan.
“Adam, honey?” his dad tried again.
Apparently, instincts were a thing that mattered. He’d always relied more on the evidence in front of him, but now his gut clenched in dread.
“Oh my God, was that your dad?” Carly grabbed Adam’s arm. “I love it when old men use the wordhoney. It’s just somehow sweeter, don’t you think?”
Then Bill rounded the corner from where the herb garden was, and Adam could already see exactly how this would go: Bill would introduce himself, Sheila would hear the commotion and come outside and invite Carly in. Within moments, Carly would be offered a room in their home, his dad wouldpaint her into the family portrait and she’d be written into his parents’ living wills.
Adam abruptly started the car again. “We’re out of here,” he said.
“What? Are we seriously not even going to say hi? Your dad looks worried now.” Carly gestured to where Bill stood, gardening hat in his hands and scratching his head in confusion.
Adam gritted his teeth. “No hellos, no waves, not even a distant nod.”
Carly didn’t like that answer, apparently, because she rolled down the car window and loudly shouted, “Hi, Mr. Rhodes!”
